Display device fob beer knobs



Jan. 25, 1944. c. c. MERRiTT DISPLAY DEVICE FOR BEER KNOBS Filed May 19, 1941 INVENTOR.

W n m M, a. M Z a w 6 Patented Jan. 25, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT orries DISPLAY DEVICE FOR BEER KNOBS Clark C. Merritt, Passaic, N. J.

Application May 19, 1941, Serial No. 394,146

1 Claim.

My invention relates to faucet operating knobs, and more specifically to beer knobs of the type generally mounted upon the upper ends of the operating levers of beer dispensing faucets which are usually located adjacent the inner edge of the bar and projecting sufiiciently above the bar top to be within the view of customers.

In recent years it has become the practice of various brewers to supply the beverag selling trade with distinctive and attractive operating knobs for attachment to the faucets which dispense their particular beverages. Such knobs usually carry the name of the brewer and advertising matter designed to present a pleasing appearance and identify the product of the brewer. It is important that this display matter be easily readable by customers from their various localities and distances from the faucets across the bar, in order that they may be assured the particular brand of beverage asked for is the one they receive. The problem of designing a beer knob having display surfaces adapted to be readily seen by customers standing at different localities along the bar has presented many difliculties, owing to the more or less small surfaces available, and also to the fact that the shapes of the knobs rendered them unsuitable for displaying the advertising matter to the best advantage.

It is an object of this invention to overcome the foregoing disadvantages, and I attain this object by providing a faucet knob having two substantially flat oppositely disposed display surfaces the planes of which are at such an angle to each other and to the longitudinal edge of the bar top that said surfaces are more easily readabl along the customers side of the bar than has been the case heretofore.

. Another object is to provide an improved mounting for the knob, enabling the same to be easily fastened atop the stem of the operating lever, and providing for ready adjustment about the axis of the stem so as to bring the display surfaces into proper position with respect to the bar top.

Another object is to provide'simple and inexpensive means for mounting the display matter at the sides of the knob.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a bar top illustrating my improved beer knob attached to the operating lever of a faucet installed adjacent the rear edge of the bar top, portions of which are broken away.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the installation shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the knob and my improved mounting therefor.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through one of the angular faces of the knob.

Fig. 5' is a front View of the knob illustrating the ease with which the display faces may be read from a position directly in front of the knob.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view in section of a modified construction for a display unit mounted in one of the faces of the knob.

In the accompanying drawing the numeral 10 indicates a faucet of the type generally attached to a suitable structure adjacent the rear edge of a bar top for dispensing beer and other beverages.

A faucet of this kind usually has a valve operating lever such as II pivoted at l2 near the bottom of a valve body I3 secured to an upright panel M. The lever H is movable away from or toward the rear edge I5 of the bar top It to respectively open or close a valve (not shown) within the valve body It according to well known practice.

I provide a knob I? on the free end of the operating lever H through the medium of a mounting piece 18 having a slightly tapered and round end portion adapted as indicated at It to frictionally engage the correspondingly tapered bore 20 of the knob, the latter being retained on the mounting piece It by suitable means such as a screw 2| passed through an opening 22 of a web 23 and screwed into the body of the knob, the head 24 of the screw being located within the axial barrel 25 of the mounting piece It. A slight space 26 is provided between the web 23 and the head M of the screw 2| so that while the knob is unremovably retained on the mounting piece I8 it may be backed off slightly from its frictional engagement with the tapered mounting and rotated thereon to any desired axial position atop the lever H and then tightened down again frictionally to bring a pair of angularly disposed display faces 21 and 28 into a desired adjusted position with respect to the front edge or customers side 29 of the bar top iii. For all practical purposes this frictional engagement holds the knob in position on the operating lever, and this method of attachment makes the knob easy to adjust to the right position at the time of installation.

It will be observed that the display faces 21 and 28 of the knob define the two angular sides of a wedge in top plan view, and that if the knob is adjusted on the lever l l to point the narrow portion 30 of the wedge toward the front edge 29 of the bar top the display faces will be presented with sufl'icient angularity to customers located for instance at any of the points :0, y, and z to be seen to good advantage. When the knob H has been adjusted to the position shown in Fig. 1 wherein a line drawn centrally through the wedge is in a plane normal to the front edge 29 of the bar top it is possible for a customer to observe both faces of the knob from the position 0 (see Fig. 5), while a customer located at position 2 has a much better view of the display face 28 than he would have if said face were in a plane parallel to the line 0. In prior knobs of this general character the two faces were in parallelism and therefore did not present a wedge formation in top plan view. Accordingly, the two display faces could not be faced at the same time toward the front edge of the bar top as is done in the present case.

' It is to be understood that the display faces 21 and 28 need not be confined to a round configuration in side view as illustrated in the present example, but may be of any contour in sideview,"

for example, oval, square, diamond, hexagon, or obviously a variety of other outlines, all defining a wedge shape in top plan view resulting from the'angulation of the two display faces.

The mounting [8 may be internally threaded at 3| for the reception of a threaded extension or stud 32 carried by the free end of the lever I I, either with or without the locknut 33 and the threaded lever construction illustrated at 34.

The display material 35 consisting of the name of the beverage manufacturer and/or other advertising may be aflixed to the faces 21 and 28 in any desirable way, such as printing, embossing, impressing, or in the manner shown in Fig. 4 wherein a series of nested cup like plates 36, 31, and 38 of thin sheet material are flared slightly outward at 39 to be received in tight engagement against the undercut Wall 40 in a recess 4| ,of the knob. Plate 38 comprises a transparent material such as celluloid, plate 31 being of paper having the display printed thereon, and plate 36 of metal such as brass or zinc, the whole assembly being backed at the center by a protrusion 42 which reinforces the same. If desired the outer or transparent plate 38 may be extended around the inner edges of the other two plates 36 and 31 and crimped down on the inside of the plate 36 to hold all of the plates together as a unit. The plate assembly is inserted into the recess 4| after heating the knob in an appropriate oven to a suitable temperature to cause sufiicient expansion of the recess to permit entry of the nested plates, Shrinkage of the knob on cooling leaves the plate assembly tightly gripped against the undercut wall 40.

According to the modification shown in Fig. 6 the undercutting referred to in connection with Fig. 4 may be dispensed with, and a recess 43 having a straight peripheral wall 44 provided instead. In this modification the outer edge 45 of a display unit 46 is gripped tightly in the recess 43 by shrinkage of the knob as in the case of the Fig. 4 construction.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of construction herein described and illustrated in the drawing, but may be embodied in numerous modifications thereof within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A knob for a valve, having a cylindrical body portion adapted to be grasped by the hand, the opposite ends of said body portion being defined by two substantially fiat display faces disposed,

one at each end of said body portion, said faces being in planes which are at an acute angle to each other and inclined to the central longitu-.

dinal axis of said body portion, and a valve operating lever secured to said body portion between the two angularly disposed display faces, whereby the cylindrical surface of said body portion provides a smooth wedge shaped grip for the hand, and the two display faces are readily visible from a point in front of the narrow portion of the wedge shaped body formed by the two inclined display faces.

CLARK C. MERRITT. 

